


Souji's story

by KanbaraGirl77



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 13:55:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KanbaraGirl77/pseuds/KanbaraGirl77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Souji was lucky; she had gotten free from her abusers and fled. But her life becomes much more difficult with the arrival of two daughters in her teen years. Trying to support them, she decides to steal from Junes...it is there that her life changes for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape

Chapter 1-Escape

5/31/1999  
Nighttime, 8:09 PM  
Souji, age 7

“Get back here, you little brat! How dare you pull that trick on me! You’ll pay for that stunt!” came a voice from behind her, rather loud and pissed off. Souji briefly glanced back to see a very angry male scientist right behind her. He held a pistol in his right hand and she knew it was loaded. They always had loaded pistols on them, Souji thought. It was to keep the test subjects under their control, although there was always one rebellious person every now and then to bother the people working here.  
“I’m not going to die here! Oh hell no, I’m not going to die here! I’ve risked far too much to die here! I just hope I can get out of here…”  
She was that rebellious one. Escape had been easy when the guard assigned to watch her had been extremely drunk. But her escape had been noticed rather fast and she was now being chased by someone who wasn’t drunk but thankfully the man was very out of shape and he was having a hard time catching up to her. Souji was ever so thankful for this chance to escape. Her only friend had given her this chance.

She made a sharp turn around what seemed like the 50th corner and saw a small opening and dove in, feeling her skin getting scraped up, but she had no time to check to see how bad they were. As she made her way out of the small crack, she could hear the faint sound of sirens and the yelling of scientists. She didn’t stick around to find out what they wanted and dove into the night, running as fast as her legs would carry her. They were burning in pain, yet she kept running forward.  
She had never seen the outside before, but she didn’t have time to sightsee. She ran through heavy brush, dark alleyways, and even through puddles of god-knows what. But nothing was stopping her for long; fear drove her forward through the unknown world that she had never been in before.

She didn’t know where she was going, but anywhere was better then that place…that much she knew. She didn’t know where she would go, but she had this feeling she would be fine. Her new friend told her so.  
…The new, odd voice in her head said so himself, his name was Izanagi. Souji didn’t know if she could trust him, but she didn’t have a choice; a random god in her head was far better then those assholes back trying to find her at any cost. When she could run no further ahead, she hid in the hole of a tree trunk, making sure to be out of sight from anyone and she did her best hiding the entrance. There was a good deal of moonlight and other lighting sources so she could see. The little girl set out when she was rested to get some dry brush to start a fire. Thankfully for her, the tree was super wet and wouldn’t burst into flames anytime soon, not to mention the hole was rather large for such a tree. Souji started up a fire and got as close to it as possible and began to cry…but they were not tears of sadness, she was free now. She was finally free to live however she wanted.  
“I’m finally free now…”  
But she was too tired to think anymore and lay down on some dry brush she had set aside to sleep on.

 

The next morning, she awoke to the sight of two boys and a younger girl that was behind them both. Souji jumped in fear; were they the kids of the scientists who came to find her? Had she been found already? Would she be killed for escaping?  
As soon as she grabbed a stick, the eldest kid-a boy with brown hair spoke up, saying that the three were not a threat to her and Souji soon calmed down, dropping the stick she was tightly holding onto. Just who were these kids and how did they find her in this hidden area? Who were they? Could she trust them?

She soon asked them that question and they answered, “We’re orphans who live in that orphanage just over there, see?” the silver haired boy pointed to a small, wooden building nearby. Souji leaned over a bit and saw what he was pointing at and blinked in confusion.  
“Are you alone? Where are your parents? Why are you even sleeping here in the first place? Don’t you know you could get sick from sleeping in a place like this?” asked the brown haired boy. Souji said nothing in response and the boy soon understood, taking her hand and began to lead her over to that building along with his two friends, whom Souji learned were brother and sister. The boy who was pulling her was named Shinjiro, and the brother-sister pair, named Akihiko and Miki. Shinjiro told the woman who ran the place what had happened and she was sympathetic to what Souji had to say.

As she was lead inside her new room, she smiled for the first time in forever. She may not have parents to watch over her, but she had some new friends…friends that she could love.

 

But Souji’s happiness didn’t last long. Just a few weeks later after her birthday, some cruel bastard had set fire to the place and Miki was kidnapped. Akihiko was taken somewhere else, leaving just Shinjiro with her to figure out what to do next…  
With his help, the two went searching in the town for Miki and Akihiko. They had managed to find Akihiko but there were no signs of Miki. Souji had gathered some info and the two went searching for their foster sister and learned she was with Souji’s first friend and adoptive sister, Chidori. That gave Souji massive comfort; Miki was safe for now.

 

12 years later…  
4/12/2011  
Afternoon  
Souji, age 19

“So this is the mall my big bro told me about? Hmph, doesn’t seem like it’s been here long. It should be easy for me to steal from here.”

A much older Souji Seta, age 19, was hiding behind a dumpster close to a mall, watching and waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the back and steal some food for her two daughters, nearby in another store with her foster brother Shinjiro. She had her first daughter at the age of 15 and had her second daughter at 17. She didn’t want to think about what had happened to her former lover.  
Money had run out last week and she saw no other alternative than to steal from someone else. That someone else was from Junes.  
“I should have known better than to spend all that money on that train ride. I was damn sure someone would have found me out. Thank goodness I put that expired ticket in that man’s pocket otherwise I would have been busted for sure. I need to be more careful with my luck.”  
Souji was pretty good at stealing from others; she had become an amazing thief while living in the streets, using her childish feminine charms to fool adults and steal from them while their backs were turned. She had yet to be caught stealing anything from anyone just yet.

 

The young mother soon saw her chance and snuck in the backdoor, which had been left open by a careless employee. She made sure not to make any sound and checked a few times as she found another hiding spot, behind some crates that were stacked pretty high and hid her from view from the outside. She was about to move to another location when she heard someone’s voice-a male’s voice around her age but slightly younger sounding. The voice became louder and closer and soon she saw whom the voice belonged to, a young teen her age with reddish-brown hair and peach-colored skin holding some crates in his arms. He looked like he was having trouble carrying said crates, stumbling back and forth.

Souji had to restrain herself from laughing when she saw him stumble a little. Still, she had to admit he was pretty cute. She shook her head and waited for him to leave.

Only problem? He wasn’t leaving as fast as Souji thought he would. In fact, it looked like he was going to be here for a while. Souji frowned; this was not good. If he found her, it was sure that she would be caught and she wasn’t about to let that happen and leave her two daughters without a mother to protect them. They may have Shinjiro, but she was their only mother in the world and she wasn’t planning on dying anytime soon in the near future.

 

The male groaned and complained about his back and the lack of lighting in the room. He got up and began wandering around, cursing as he tried to find the switch. This was the moment Souji began to freak out; her luck was heading south fast. Yet Souji couldn’t leave; he’d hear her footsteps and alert someone else of her presence.  
The only thing she could do was to wait the situation out and see how events unfolded from here.

“Ah hah, found it! That was rather annoying, being in the dark and all…” said the voice. The room became bright with light and Souji began to worry when he came back. Her shadow was on the floor right near where he was.  
She had to get out and soon. Working in bright light was never good for her and she rarely did so. She had only stolen in bright light a few times. It was far better to steal in darkness.  
She made the decision to move so he wouldn’t see her. Thankfully the crates were stacked in such a way that she could move down the side for a while without being seen. Not being heard would prove to be much harder. Souji tried as best as she could to not be heard, but her luck ran out when she had bumped into a frying pan and watched in horror as it fell and made a loud noise.  
“Huh? What the hell was that noise?” came the teen’s voice as it came closer. “I hope something didn’t break, dad’ll gave my hide for that and he’ll dock my paycheck.”

“Oh fuck, not good. Gotta get out of here fast.” she thought in fear, moving as fast as she could away from the spot where the noise came from, hoping to god she wouldn’t be found. She quietly made her way to the end of the long storeroom and began to pickpocket the door, opening it softly and closing it behind her and locked it. She propped up a hardy chair under the doorknob and looked around for what she had come for.

Her eyes lay upon a cash register and she walked over. She worked her magic and opened it and took whatever money she could get and began to figure out a way to avoid being seen. “Can’t go out that way, too risky. I’ll get caught in no time if I go that way.” she said as she began to climb her way onto some more crates, making sure to hide when she heard voices, voices that were very close at that.  
As she made her way up to the top, she heard the door being moved. Panicking, she broke the glass celling and climbed up onto the roof. She heard the angry voice of the male below as he came closer. “Fuck, not good. Never stealing from here again, that’s for sure. One of the best known rules of being a thief: never steal from the same place twice.” said Souji as she ran across the rooftop and she began to run, cursing her bad luck when she felt blood trickle down her left leg. Moving proved to be more and more painful with each step Souji took. It felt like her leg was on fire and it hurt a lot…  
She cursed a second time when she heard the voice of the male, apparently right behind her and very annoyed it seemed.

“Hey, just what the hell do you think you’re doing?! Get back here! Give back that money you stole!” he yelled, grabbing her wrist tightly, forcing her to turn around and face him directly face-to-face. This was the first time she got to see his face. Souji tried to break free, but his grip was too strong.  
“You’re a girl?” he said in confusion. Souji took what he said and she assumed that she was a male. He didn’t let go of her wrist, however.

The teen’s face grew slightly softer and he repeated the same question. Souji didn’t respond, refusing to let go of the money she had worked so hard to steal. “I’ll be taking that back, thank you.” he said, grabbing the money right out of her hand.

“I’m finished…I’ll be arrested for sure now and my daughters won’t have any food tonight. This can’t be how it ends!” Souji bitterly thought as tears started to form in her eyes. She fought the urge to break down in front of this stranger. “No…”

“Hey I…um…I…” his grip loosened and he asked a very odd question that Souji didn’t expect.  
“Who are you? I’ve never seen you in Inaba before. What’s your name?” he asked. She didn’t respond. She opened her eyes and saw he was looking at her body and watched as his eyes focused on her stomach. His eyes widened in shock and surprise.

“Shit, you look like you haven’t eaten in weeks! Just the hell have you been going through!?” he looked Souji in the eyes and asked how long it had been since she had eaten. “…About two weeks…I…ran out of money so…I came to steal…” she began, but she wasn’t able to finish her sentence before the cops came.

She tuned out the world at that moment, only able to hear to protests of the teen…

Her world went dark…

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

“-And I keep telling you, she hasn’t eaten in a while and she doesn’t have any money!” came the teen’s voice, rather high pitched.

Souji winced as she rubbed her forehead and began to try and wake up. Another voice, one that she had never heard before, spoke up rather loudly.

“So…you’re awake.” the voice came from a much older male and she searched for that voice and saw a gruff-looking old man that seemed to be in his early 40’s and he had a cigarette. The redhead teen from earlier was standing right next to him along with a man with black hair. He seemed to be questioning the redhead.

“I keep telling you, there must be a reason why she stole from my dad’s store! People don’t just steal for no reason, damnit! Can’t you see she’s starving!?” yelled the teen as he made some hand gestures. He looked at Souji and sighed with relief. He walked over to her, forgetting briefly that he was being questioned by the police as he came over in a hurried manner, worry on his face.  
“Hey, are you okay? You passed out as Detective Dojima took you in here. I’ve been trying to talk some sense into them, but they’re not listening to me so far and I don’t know what to say. I’ve tried telling them that you hadn’t eaten in a couple of weeks, but that isn’t working!” he said softly as if he was concerned about her. But why, he didn’t even know her and yet he was this worried about her? It baffled Souji to the point where it made her brain hurt.

“Hey, we’re still questioning you, you know. Not let me speak with the girl. Move over.” said Dojima as he made the gesture for him to move. The redhead moved away but not too far. Dojima then stared at Souji face-to-face and Souji wondered something. He had hair like hers…did she know him? It felt like she knew him from somewhere, she felt a sense of nostalgia just from looking at him. Her mind was seemingly trying to remember some ancient memory from her childhood, but it was so far down.

“So…you tried to steal from a mall and you thought you’d get away with it? You do realize how much time you could be sent away for, right?” he said, taking a puff of cigarette smoke. Souj froze; that’s what she feared most: being locked up. It reminded her of those days long past at the Kirijo Lab being tested on day after day, the abuse she got from some of the men working there.

As if Dojima had sensed Souji’s fear, he asked what her name was. She hesitated before responding, “…Souji Seta…my name is Souji Seta. Who are you?”

The room went silent as Dojima dropped his cigarette, his mouth wide open from absolute shock. “What…?” was all he could say. Souji and the redhead were confused and it was then that the black haired man spoke and told them what had happened many years ago.

 

“Wait a minute, but I thought Nanako was Detective Dojima’s only child? And isn’t his wife dead?” asked the redhead in confusion. Souji was even more confused and she didn’t even know what was even happening anymore in this conversation.

“No, Dojima-san had another daughter years earlier before Nanako was even born and her name was…” he said as he looked at Souji. “…Souji. That was her name…but…I thought she went missing?” he asked, confused himself and baffled by what was going on around him.

 

“She was kidnapped from me and my wife, Chisato when she was 3…no one knows who kidnapped her or the motive behind it all.” said Dojima as he picked up his cigarette, looking at Souji in disbelief, trying his hardest to keep calm and level-headed. “Despite all we did, no one found any traces of her and we thought she had died…but…Souji…is that really…you? I mean…” he looked Souji in the eyes. “Are you really my daughter that went missing all those years ago?” he asked, his voice trembling and tears forming in his eyes. Souji could see he was trying very hard not to break down in front of her.

“Don’t you need to take a DNA sample to see if that’s true?” asked the redhead. He had sat down next to Souji and had begun to fidget with his hands and feet.

Dojima nodded, asking Souji for a hair sample and as soon as he got it, he left the room, muttering something about his sanity. The black haired man left as well, leaving Souji alone with the redhead. Silence filled the room and the redhead broke it rather quickly. “Well, this escalated quickly…” thought Souji as she got a good look around the room.

“Hey, I haven’t given you my name yet, have I? Sorry about that. I got so caught up with making sure you were okay.” he asked, extending his hand to her in a polite manner, “My name’s Yosuke Hanamura. I moved here six months ago with my parents to open this branch of Junes.” he said with a smile as he laughed nervously. Just looking at Souji made him nervous.  
“I’m the one who put the bandages on your leg.” he said, pointing to her left leg, which had indeed been wrapped up with bandages.

So, what’s your story?” he asked. “How’d you end up in Inaba anyway in the first place?”

“…You actually wanna know more about me?” asked Souji in wonder. Yosuke nodded.  
No one other than Shinjiro had wanted to know more about her before, so this was a rather nice surprise. So, she nodded and began to tell him the story of her life as far back as she could remember.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

“Holy shit, those two girls are your daughters?!” screeched Yosuke in shock, staring at the photos Souji was currently showing him now. It was a picture of two girls playing in the pool with her nearby smiling. Souji pointed to the first daughter, “This is Shiori, my first born. She looks more like me in the hair department. Don’t ask about the red eyes, she was born with them. She pointed to the other girl, one with blond hair and blue eyes “…and this is my other little girl, Minko…” she said with a soft smile.

Yosuke swallowed his wonder and asked, “How…old were you when Shiori was born? She looks small.” he asked, hesitating to ask the question. He hated sounding nosey like his senpai.

“…15…I was 17 when Minko was born.” said Souji in a rather calm manner that Yosuke didn’t expect from her.

Yosuke was too stunned to say anything else. This girl in front of him was already a mother. He didn’t have time to ask more questions before Dojima and the other man came back into the room.

 

“Sorry we took so long!” said the black haired man as he sat down near the table. Dojima sat across from Souji and looked her right in the eyes,

“…You’re really my daughter…” he said, smiling.


	2. Chapter 2

Souji's story  
Chapter 2-Family?  
4/12/2011 Evening

"I'm your what now?! What kind of crazy idea did you think of while you were out there?! I demand an explanation! This is asinine!" blurted out Souji, confused and slightly weirded out from Dojima's statement. Her neutral expression had turned into a frown and creased eyebrows, but her voice was panicked and high-pitched. All other thoughts that had been in her mind were now replaced with one thought. 

“What the hell is going on?! Dojima is saying I’m his long-lost daughter!? Where the hell did he pull that thought out of?!”

"It's true Souji, we checked the hair strand you gave us and it proved you're Dojima-san's daughter! We checked enough times to know that's for sure! DNA tests don’t lie, Souji! I know it seems crazy, but it’s true!" said Adachi as he backed up nervously, almost tripping over his chair.  
What Dojima had just said baffled her; she was his long-lost daughter? Granted, she didn't know either of her birth parents but what were the odds of her being his daughter in the first place? She decided to ask him if this was true and he nodded, seemingly sure of himself.

She crossed her arms across her chest and began tapping her left foot on the floor. "Is he telling the truth? He doesn't seem like he's lying. Hmmm, I guess I'll press him for answers. I doubt he'll let me out of here otherwise. Here goes nothing…"

"So…I'm your daughter, eh? Hmm…I see…well then…" she said while tilting her head a little, a small smirk across her lips as she looked at Dojima, skeptical of what he had just said. The teen wanted to know more about what was going on inside the man claiming to be her true father. He sat back a bit in his chair, slight creaking coming from the slightly aged chair.

"Just how do you know exactly, Dojima-san? I mean, I feel for your loss and all for losing someone close and dear to your heart, believe me, if…if…never mind, forget what I was about to say. Anyway…" she trailed off, suddenly realizing that talking about her two daughters might make Dojima judge her in a bad way. She hoped Dojima wouldn't ask about her life but she was wrong. 

She was so wrong.

"So what are those pictures you're holding? May I see them?" he asked her, leaning over to try to look at them. Souji hid them behind Yosuke who looked at her like she was nuts to hide them behind his back. Dojima raised an eyebrow at her action and asked why she was so nervous. Souji was hesitant to answer him.

"Nothing really…it's nothing…can I leave now?" she said, nervous as hell as she stopped tapping her foot. She prayed he wouldn't ask further. Again, she was so wrong.

Yosuke stayed silent; he didn't want to blurt out the secret anymore than his new friend did…friend? He had just met her and he was already thinking of her as his friend? Was he really that desperate for companionship?  
"I don't know if she even wants to be my friend…so why the hell am I thinking of her as one?" he asked himself. He felt helpless in this situation; he wanted to help Souji somehow.   
Anyway he could help her would be great. He just didn’t know how…

He yelped when Dojima reached behind him and took the photos out, sitting down on the edge of the table and started to look at them. Adachi leaned over his boss's shoulder to try to look as well. Both of their expressions turned pale in shock at what they were looking at. Adachi was the first to look at Souji, who had turned around hiding her face from everyone. Yosuke looked at her sadly and was trying to ask what was wrong, but he knew what was wrong.

"Those two girls in the photo…" began Adachi as he looked back at the photos and then back at Souji. "…Are your daughters? But how…?" he said softly. It sounds like he's in denial. Denial can be a very bad thing in life.

Dojima said nothing; he was still in shock trying to process what he was looking at. "I'm…" he wasn’t able to say anything else.

Souji stayed quiet and said nothing. Dojima quickly took a look at Yosuke but he stayed quiet as well. The detective got up and walked over to Souji and kneeled down so he could look at her face-to-face. He gently asked her,

"Is this true…? Are they…?" he asked as he sat down next to her. Souji looked up at him, her eyes closed, forcing herself to hold back tears.

Souji's POV

Damnit, I didn't want him to know just yet, but I guess he would have found out sooner or later, so I decided to tell him what I had told Yosuke but taking out certain bits of the story that might make me look insane. Dojima stayed silent throughout the story and didn't say anything until I was done. When I had finally finished telling him everything, he spoke up.

"You must have been very scared raising two daughters on your own."

"I wasn't alone, I had help from my friends…what few friends I have to be honest." I interjected. "My foster brothers and their friends. They helped me with my girls. And I'm thankful for that. If it hadn't been for them, I don't know what could have happened."

"And where are they now?" he asked, crossing his arms. "With your friends, I assume?" he said with a soft smile. "I'd like to see them."

"He really wants to know, doesn't he? He sure is persistent." I thought to myself. "Guess I might as well tell him. I wonder what he'll think of my story…"

"With him now at his café. It's just outside of town. He lets me stay there free of charge. He's practically their uncle so to speak. He's got three kids of his own too, so they have friends." I replied calmly, standing up and stretching my body. My body had gotten rather stiff since I had been awake.   
After I was done, the four of us walked outside and up to the entrance so Dojima could take care of some paperwork. 

"I'll meet you there in just a few. Adachi, go with her and find her two kids." and with that, he was lost in his paperwork.

Adachi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "So uh…let's get going then…I'll go get the car, you two wait here in the lobby." He ran outside, leaving me with Yosuke. Alone.   
"Well, this just got awkward. Very awkward indeed." I thought as I looked for a place to sit down. "Let's go sit down over there, Yosuke." I said, walking over to where I pointed. He sat down next to me and began to fidget with his hands.

"So um…Souji…I…" Yosuke began to stutter, "Would you like to go out to eat at that café you mentioned? I…want to be your friend…s-shit, that sounded awkward as hell…" he blushed, looking at me nervously. 

"Does he have a crush on me already? Do I look that good to him?"

I raised an eyebrow, curious at his reaction and I asked him why he was so nervous. He replied and told me that I was one of the few girls that weren't annoyed by him. That took me by surprise,

"Really? You seem like a great guy to me. Why wouldn't anyone want to hang out with you, Yosuke-kun? Why would anyone have a reason to hate you so much?" I replied, genuinely confused about what he had just said. Yosuke was one of the few people who didn't get disgusted from the fact I was a teen mother. He showed mercy on me when I had tried to steal and pleaded in my defense even though he didn't know me before that.   
I felt like I could really trust him and told him so myself. He seemed surprised by that and chuckled in embarrassment,

"Really? I…um…well…" he began to answer but he was interrupted by Adachi yelling for us to come outside.

"Hey, come on!" yelled Adachi. I could barely hear him from inside.

"Tell me later, okay? We can talk at the café." I said and the two walked to the car where Adachi was waiting for us. He blinked at the two of us for a moment before he turned on the ignition and started up the car. As Adachi started driving the car, I asked about Yosuke's life story and he looked surprised at my question, but started talking about it anyway.

"I used to be just your average city kid for a long time, but six months ago last November, my father got a job here at one of the Junes stores, so we packed up and moved here. I hated Inaba at first, but it's okay I suppose." he said in a neutral way. He let out a sigh.

"He hated Inaba when he first came here? I haven't been here long and I love it here already. Seems like a nice place to raise the girls." I thought as I looked at the green scenery. They even had a river to fish in from what I could tell. I wrote down to get a fishing rod when I had the time and money.  
"I didn't have any friends when I first came here; a lot of people hated me for being the son of the Junes manager and avoided me or talked badly about me, except one person." he continued, running a hand through his hair.  
"And who was that person?" I asked, curious and interested. Part of me wondered who that person who accepted Yosuke was.

"Her name was Saki Konishi. Her family runs a liquor store down in the shopping district. We became good friends and even helped me get around Inaba for the first few weeks. Although she hasn't talked to me in a few days…" he said, trailing off and sounding somewhat sad when he said that. I was beginning to feel worried the more he talked.

"Why does he sound so sad when he said that?" I thought as my attention was focused on his story. This story had taken a darker turn than I thought it would. Did something happen between the two, I wonder? Before I asked him that question, he spoke.

"You're probably wondering why she hasn't talked to me in a few days, aren't you?" he teased, changing his mood and cracked a joke, 

"Well…she broke up with me in the middle of class. Right in front of everyone, too. Hurt like hell to be honest." he said, smile still on his face. He laughed nervously, trying to stay happy and calm, but I knew better than to believe that. Getting dumped in front of everyone can do massive damage to a person's self-esteem.

"So…are you going to try and win her back or not?" I asked calmly, almost too calmly for my liking. He looked at me like a knife had been thrust into his heart.  
"Damnit, that was not a wise thing to ask! This is why you don't have many friends, Souji!" I thought. I hoped Yosuke wasn't mad at me for asking that, I really hoped he wasn't.

Instead of getting angry or upset at my question, he smiled with a smile that seemed very fake and overdone, "I hope so." and that was all he said on that topic.   
Before I could ask him something else, we arrived at the café. It was a small café, but it had its charm. It was the only thing I could really call a home. Many nights were spent sleeping outside in the open air and many nights were spent with either a cold or upset stomach.  
"Wow, this looks really…small…is this the right place?" said Adachi as he got out of the car and walked over to me. He looked at the café, "Does this place get a lot of business, Souji?" he asked me. I smirked, 

"Of course it does. People stop here when they travel from place to place and it's got a small guest bedroom for late at night. It's a great place to eat at. I really recommend it."  
I spent the most time in that guest bedroom along with my two girls. Shinjiro gave me a free pass every time I stayed there because I had no place to stay.  
"C'mon, let's go in." I said, leading the way inside. Yosuke opened the door for me.   
"Here, let me get that for you."  
"I could have done that myself, you know Yosuke…I'm not weak." I said, rubbing the back of my head. Yosuke responded with a sheepish grin and replied.   
"You're tired and hungry, at least let me help you out, Souji." he said. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

Saying nothing else, I walked inside and waved to get Shinjiro's attention. He quickly took notice of my hand waving and greeted me with a gruff voice that seemed to belong to someone older.   
"You're late, what happened?" he asked as I walked over to the counter.   
"Did you run into trouble? Are you hurt?" he added, looking at my leg. I dismissed his question with a wave of my hand.  
"I'm fine, it's nothing." I said to him. “I took care of it.”

He frowned, "It doesn't look like it's nothing the way I see it. It looks like you were too reckless this time." he said with a face palm. He was groaning in annoyance. Shinjiro didn't seem like the one who would be concerned, but he did worry about me and was the only person he could truly open up to besides his lover.

 

"I see you brought some company. Who are they?" he asked, changing the topic. He was always wary of new people when they said that they wanted to be my friend. He was like that with Miki way back then.

"That's Adachi and that's Yosuke. I just met them today. Adachi-san drove us here. I told them about the café," I answered calmly. Shinjiro had a tendency to be over-protective of me and I hoped he wouldn't try to go after them. I can't count the times he's almost been arrested due to getting into fights with the cops.

Shinjiro did a full-face palm and growled, "You got arrested, didn't you?!" he glared at Adachi who yelped in surprise.   
"If you did anything to her, I swear-!" I interrupted him before he could say anything further that could lead to a fight. He got angry very quickly.

"Easy, the matter was cleared up, I'm not in jail. You can relax. Stop having a fit." I said, messing with his trademark beanie cap. Shinjiro calmed down and glanced at Yosuke. My new friend quickly got nervous.  
"Where's he from?" he asked, much calmer than from just a few seconds ago. Even though I've known him since I was seven, I can never fully predict his moods.

"I'm Yosuke Hanamura, I'm from Inaba. I work at Junes. That's where I met Souji today. She’s really nice!" he said, very nervous, almost afraid to look my brother in the eyes. I put a hand on his shoulder and assured him that he was no threat. After that, he calmed down and opened up to Shinjiro. The two shook hands after getting to know each other.   
“Nice to meet you, Yosuke. Glad to know Souji can make friends after all…she can be rather stubborn.”

"Oomph!" I felt a sudden tackle and looked down to see my daughter Minko smiling up at me with Shiori right next to her. The two were both trying to hug my legs as hard as they could and I chuckled, 

"Missed me then, did you now? Mommy missed you so much. Sorry it took me so long to come back. Got caught up in something." I gently patted Minko's head and she replied in her usual upbeat cheerful manner. I kneeled down to hug them both and they gave me plenty of kisses all over my face.

Yosuke’s POV

So those two girls are Minko and Shiori, Souji’s two daughters. They really do look like their mother and for some reason that made me smile. It reminded me of Dojima’s other daughter, Nanako. I was sometimes on babysitting duty whenever Dojima came home late, so I was like a brother to her. I wonder what she would think of these three?  
“So what did my girls do today? Did you have fun with Uncle Shinjiro while I was gone?” said Souji in a maternal voice, softer than what I had heard from her before. She smiled as the two girls spoke about much fun they had today. They even asked her about the money she promised them. 

“They knew she stole?” I asked myself.

Shinjiro-san chuckled in amusement and smiled, “They’ve been rather active today since you told them about going to school and all…”

Souji wanted to put them in school even though she barely had any money? She did tell me that she had friends to help her, but part of me worried that they would be hurt. 

“She really is determined to see her daughters grow up with the best chance at life. Still, I wonder…whatever happened to their father? Did he…?” My thoughts wandered to the possibility that the father of those two had abandoned them after Shiori was born. Did Souji say anything about it while she told me about her life? I couldn’t remember if she had or not. Most likely the topic of Souji’s old boyfriend was a taboo topic.

“Maybe I’ll ask her later. Now’s not the best time to ask her that question, not to mention Adachi and that Shinjiro guy are here.” I noted as I looked around.

“Hey, who’s dat guy? He’s tall like you, momma! And he’s got hair like Minko!” said Shiori as she looked up at me with her red eyes. Minko walked over and looked at me, but said nothing. I rubbed the back of my head and tried to come up with something to say, but nothing came to mind. Souji spoke up, 

“That’s Yosuke; he’s my new friend.” She paused to point at Adachi with a smile,

“And that’s Adachi. He’s a cop. He’s my friend too. He fights bad guys.” she smiled, patting Shiori on the head. I could hear him chuckle and speak. He said something about being only a rookie.

“Well…” he began to say, but his stomach, which had decided it wanted food right now, cut him off. My stomach decided to growl at that moment as well. I was so caught up in everything that happened that I totally forgot to eat since breakfast. Good thing we’re at a café.  
Adachi laughed and so did I,

“Boy, I guess it’s time to eat…” he said grinning. 

“Yeah, I’m starving.” I replied, rubbing my growling stomach. Boy, was I hungry!

“You guys want food? I’ll go make some right now, so sit down.” said Shinjiro as he headed behind the counter. I quickly sat down at a nearby table and the others followed me. Adachi sat near the window like I did and Souji and the girls were across from me. I watched as she put each of them in a high chair, singing a soft melody to them.

“Sorry it took me so long. One of the rookies almost set fire to the paperwork. How he even managed to…” came Dojima-san’s voice from the entrance, swinging the door open and walked in, his coat hanging off his left shoulder. I waved at him and he came and sat down next to me.

“So…” he said, looking at Shiori and Minko, who had gotten some milk in a sippy cup and were drinking with gusto.

“Man, they must like milk…” I thought smiling.

“These are my granddaughters.” he said with a smile as the girls looked at him. I didn’t see Dojima-san smile that much unless he was near Nanako. It’s a pleasant surprise to see him like this.

“Which one’s the first born?” he asked Souji with a smile. She responded by telling him that Shiori was the firstborn. 

“It’s wasn’t easy giving birth to her, she was a stubborn one, this girl.” she said as she gave her daughter a toy to play with.

“As for Minko…”

Souji’s POV

“…Minko’s the secondborn.” she smiled as she refilled her sippy cup with more milk. Minko eagerly squealed and made an attempt to grab the cup, but Souji stopped her, 

“What do we say, Minko?” she teased her, holding the cup just out of reach from her daughter. Minko pouted, 

“Thank you, momma.” she said and was rewarded with her milk, which see began to drink rather quickly. Yosuke laughed, 

“She really likes milk, doesn’t she?” he said, smiling at the adorable child.

“I know you told me that their father isn’t involved in their lives, but still, I want to know who he was.” asked Dojima as he smiled at my daughters. I made a small smile of my own and began to tell how I met their father.

“I met him at a high school dance, and he was all dressed up. I’m not sure what made me attracted to him, but he caught my heart.” I said cheerfully. Dojima nodded in understanding.

“I assume he had red eyes and blond hair, Souji?” he asked as he poured me some water. I thanked him for the water and drank it quickly. Yosuke asked how it had been since I had gotten a drink of water. 

“Since this morning.” I replied, finishing my drink and setting the glass down on the table. Dojima’s expression quickly turned concerned and he took a good long look at me. 

“Yes? Is there something wrong, Dojima-san?” I asked him, feeling unsure of his sudden change of mood. He hesitated before he asked,

“How long have you gone without eating?” he asked, his voice even more concerned then when he had asked the last question. The look of worry in his eyes tugged at my heartstrings. 

“He really is worried about me.” I thought. Looking at the table instead of meeting his gaze directly, I told him that it had been at least a week since I had last eaten.

“For god’s sake, did you-” he was interrupted by some tables being placed on the table in front of us all, piping hot and smelling very good. I looked at my order-some lasagna with extra cheese, complete with some spices I liked. Not wasting a single second, I grabbed my fork and began eating eagerly. After I had swallowed the first bite, I glanced to see the others expressions.  
Adachi seemed really pleased with his food. 

“This is great!” he said in-between bites. Yosuke seemed to be enjoying his food as well. He even was helping my daughters eat their food. Dojima however wasn’t touching his food at all. Most likely he was still worried about me.

“Hey, eat your food, Dojima-san. Shinjiro went through a lot of effort to make this food. He doesn’t get many customers this time of the year, so eat up. He hates it when people waste food.” I said, resuming my meal with gusto. I always enjoyed the lasagna Shinjiro made. It tasted better than the other stuff I tried.  
Dojima eventually began to eat his meal in silence…

After we had finished our meal, we paid for the food and left the café. I let out a burp. Minko giggled and tired burping herself, but she wasn’t able to burp. Shiori ruffled her sister’s hair and giggled in amusement.

“Hey Souji, where are you going to sleep tonight?” asked Yosuke with a look of concern on his face. I sighed; I hadn’t been able to even think of that with what had happened today. But just as I opened my mouth to answer him…

“She’s coming home with me. She’s been missing for so long and I want to make sure she’s fine.” interrupted Dojima without hesitation as he walked over to my side. I looked to see he had a warm smile on his face, one that a certain someone did whenever I was abused. Embarrassed, I told him that he didn’t need to, but he brushed my sentence off and told me to follow him. Before I followed Dojima-san, I gave my cell number to Yosuke and Adachi and then we exchanged goodbyes. Yosuke took one last look at me before he got in Adachi’s car.

“Hey, what took you so long? Come on, hop in.” asked Dojima as I got in the passenger side seat and buckled my seatbelt. He smiled at me and told me that he already attached the seatbelts for my daughters. I looked in the back and saw my girls both in booster seats and fast asleep. 

“Those two were out like a light, Souji. They must have stayed up, waiting for you to come back.” said Dojima as he started up the car after he had put on his seatbelt. Wanting to know more, I asked him why he was being so generous. He ruffled my hair.

“You’re my daughter, Souji. I won’t let you sleep outside anymore. Those days for you and my granddaughters are over now. I’m gonna make up for all the lost time and make sure you’re nursed to full health. You won’t have to starve yourself anymore. You’ll get the best food I can buy and it won’t be that cheap Junes crap or those cabbages Adachi brings over.” He said smiling at me. I chuckled and smiled.  
The rest of the car drive was silent until we got to a small house.   
“This is where you live? Seems kinda small to me.” I asked as I got out and unbuckled my daughters. I carried Shiori while Dojima carried Minko.

“Yeah, it’s rather small…but’s a nice house. Me and my sister grew up here. It’s where you were born, too.” he said as he got out his keys. I tilted my head, 

“You have a sister? You never told until now.” I said as he opened the door. I had a feeling I was going to learn a lot of things about Dojima-san in the long term. He rubbed the back of his head and sighed,

“Yeah, but we haven’t talked in years. It’s a story for tomorrow. Don’t worry about it for tonight, okay Souji?” he said, opening the door and holding it open for me. 

“You must be tired, I’ll hold the door open for you.”  
I thanked him and walked inside, hearing him close the door behind him. 

“Can you hold Minko for me? I need to go get someone. I’ll be right back, Souji.” he said, putting Minko in my arms and walking past me and walking into another part of the house. I could hear him talking to someone.

“Dad! You’re home early today! Did you not have any work?” came a small girl’s voice. I could hear Dojima chuckle and respond to her, “I came home early because I have a surprise for you. It’s something very special.” he responded with a chuckle.

“A surprise?! What is it? Is it candy or a new toy? Which is it?” came the girl’s voice. She clearly sounded very excited from how she sounded.

“No, but it’s something really special. I’ll go bring it right now.” said Dojima. After that he came back and told me to come into the living room. As I walked in, my eyes laid on a small girl with brown hair in pigtails. She was staring at me and my two daughters with wide brown eyes that were as brown as her hair. She didn’t look that much older than Shiori or Minko when I got a good look at her.   
Dojma kneeled down and said,

“Nanako, you remember that I told you that you had a big sister, right?” he said, looking at me with a smile. Nanako nodded firmly and smiled, thinking about what her father had asked her.

“Yes, but you said she went missing before I was born.” she answered. Dojima chuckled and said with a smile, 

“This is your sister, Souji Seta. I just found her today at the mall.” he said nothing about taking me into custody. Nanako looked at me and then she looked at my daughters. She asked who those two girls were and I said,

“Their…my daughters; your nieces. It’s nice to meet you, Nanako.” I said smiling, sitting down on the couch that was there in the room. I put my two daughters on one side of the couch and let out a heavy sigh as I looked around the room.  
This day had been so hectic that I lost complete track of time. I rested my head on the couch and quickly fell asleep…

 

When I woke up, I had been placed in another room on a futon. Looking around, I saw my girls were in their own small, little beds, still asleep and calm. I sighed in relief as I closed my eyes again…


	3. Chapter 3

Souji's story

Chapter 3-Inaba

Souji's POV

4/13/2011, Early Morning

"Hmmm? Wha…? Wait…Wha…Where am I? The hell?"

I groaned in annoyance as I heard a knock on the door of my room. I felt a faint pain in my left leg that I had gotten from last night's failed attempt at stealing. Last night, everything had changed.

"Oh right…I'm at the Dojima residence…at my…father's home…"

I slowly got up and realized that I was at the Dojima residence, not at Shinjiro's café like where I usually slept with my girls. The knocking got louder and I heard Nanako's voice. My little sister…

"Gonna take a while to get used to this…I'm used to sleeping outside on the ground." I muttered to myself.

"Breakfast is ready! Dad made something special for all of us! Wake up!" she yelled as I opened the door. She stared at me for a moment before telling me my daughters were already downstairs and then she laughed at my horrible bedhead.

"Your hair is all poofy, Souji! It's silly looking! Just like a cat when it's fur is all messed up! I'll go get you a brush!" she said in-between giggles. I yawned as and waited for her to calm down. As I walked downstairs, Nanako handed me a hairbrush. I thanked her and quickly fixed my short silver hair.

I walked downstairs with her and saw my two daughters sitting in front of the TV. I could smell something good and my nose turned me to where the kitchen was. My nose caught the scent of eggs and bacon along with some rice and milk for my daughters. I noticed that there was a glass of fruit milk for me.

I loved fruit milk to the point of obsession where it pissed off Shinjiro.

It was rather amusing to see Dojima wearing an apron considering he was a man in his 40's. Shinjiro would have been mad if I laughed at him when he was in an apron.

Dojima turned to see me and smiled,

"Hey, you're finally awake, Souji! Sleep well? You were awful tired last night. You fell asleep not too long after you got in your new room. Are you okay?" he said as I walked up to him in that usual half-asleep walk of mine. I looked at the food and licked my lips; it had been a long time since I had a decent breakfast and my stomach was very hungry this morning. He chuckled at my reaction and smiled at me,

"Hungry eh? Don't worry; breakfast will be done soon. Why don't you sit down with the girls? I put on a cartoon for them to watch as I make breakfast. The food won't take long. Relax." said Dojima with a smile as he turned to focus on not burning the food.

So, I went to go sit down on the couch where Nanako, Shiori and Minko were sitting watching an American cartoon. On screen, there was a cat chasing a mouse while being chased himself by a large dog with sharp teeth. I could see my daughters laughing very loudly as they were watching what they saw on TV.

"What's this?" I wondered.

"Yeah, get him! Get him! Go get him!" squealed Minko as she clapped her hands.

"They really have adjusted to this new situation already, haven't they? Makes me jealous in a way, I'm still not used to living in a house and I'm not used to having a parent. I miss sleeping outside." I thought, somewhat unhappy and bitter. I liked traveling.

My thoughts were soon interrupted when a plate of steaming food was put on the table near the kitchen.

"Food's ready, come and get it!" said Dojima as he and Nanako started to put food on the table. Shiori and Minko ran to the table before I could even stand up. Minko smiled when Dojima gave her a sippy cup full of milk.

"They woke me up this morning, asking me for some milk. They wouldn't take no for an answer!" chuckled Dojima as he sat down across Nanako and me. I smiled as I looked at Minko and Shiori drinking their milk. Thirsty myself, I took a big drink of fruit milk. As I was drinking, Dojima spoke up about school.

"Souji, I know you've just arrived here last night, but…" I stared at him, metal can still on my lips. "But you need to go to school starting today." he said with a heavy sigh as he picked up his fork and took a bite of eggs.

I stared at him in surprise; me going to school? The idea seemed like a fantasy to me. I had never been in school before. I learned all I know from Akihiko and Shinjiro. They taught me all I needed to know about life.

"School? You're sending me to school? B-but I…" I asked incredulously as I put down my now-empty can on the table, staring wide-eyed at him. He nodded firmly, "It's the law, Souji. Unless you want to be homeschooled that is…" he teased with a smile. I pouted and glared at him in annoyance.

"N-no, I…I'd like to go to school! I-it's okay!" I said, sounding like a child would when it wanted something. He smiled at me, "Then its settled." he said, eating another bite of food. I distantly heard the sound of Minko banging her empty sippy cup on the table.

"Here you go, sweetie. More milk for you." I said as I filled up her cup. She thanked me before proceeding to drink.

Wanting to stay on topic, I asked if there was a pre-school in Inaba. Dojima nodded,

"Yes, Nanako went there when she was younger. And Shiori is old enough to go, but Minko is too young. But I can't stay home all the time, I need to make money for the family." he said as he finished his eggs. He sighed again as he stared at me as I brought up the idea of bringing Minko with me to school,

"…You want to bring her with you? Souji…they won't allow little girls at a high school." he said as he stood up and put on his tie. I pouted; I can't just leave her alone at home. She's still too young to go to a school of her own, so I figured I'd take her with me until she was old enough for pre-school.

Apparently, that's illegal for some reason. I call bullshit on that.

Before Dojima could say anything more, Nanako told us it was time to go to school. Dojima stared at the clock, "Whoa, didn't realize what time it was! Thanks Nanako!" he said as he got up and walked over to Shiori. He kneeled down and told her it was time to go to school. As he was talking to her, I went over to go get Minko. Nanako was waiting at the door, all ready to go.

"Come one, let's go!" she said in a cheerful manner. "Off to school!"

Minko raised some fuss about Dojima turning the TV off, but a cup of milk made her forget. We all walked out the door, ready to start the day. I looked around as we walked to the pre-school, taking in all of the sights that were foreign to me. A few people came up to us-mostly older adults and congratulated him for finding me after all those years.

One such woman in a brown blouse came up to me, holding the hand of her son. She smiled at Minko and Shiori, "Are these your daughters? They're adorable." she asked in a quiet voice. I nodded. I heard Nanako giggle behind me.

The woman chuckled, "They're beautiful…" she said and that was the last thing she said to me before Dojima ushered me and the girls along down the road again. I looked at the river…it seemed it would never end. I was so distracted at looking at the river that I bumped into someone.

"Ah!" came a feminine gasp as I heard books fall down to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, let me help you!" my voice came out in a panic as I tried to help her pick up her books. "Thanks." came her light voice as I handed her the last book. I looked her in the eye and smiled, "It was nothing."

She chuckled, "Looking at the river? It's easy to get distracted by it sometimes." she asked. I sheepishly nodded as I stood up. Her black hair had flown in front of her eyes in a messy manner. I helped her brush it back behind her ears and she thanked me. This was the first time I got a really good look at her. She was a lot smaller than me.

Before I could ask her if she was okay, she looked at her watch and panicked, running in the direction of the road ahead of me.

I blinked in confusion before I noticed Dojima, Nanako, Shiori and Minko weren't with me. I heard her nearby and turned around to see the four picking flowers.

Eventually, they came back up and we kept walking until we got to an intersection that led in three different directions.

"The grade school is over that way, Souji. I can take Shiori and Nanako from here. You and Minko be careful, okay? I'll come try to pick you up if I can, but if I'm not able to pick you up, ask someone to walk you to my place. See you later, Souji." said Dojima with a smile. Shiori protested as she clung to my leg, so I knelt down on my knee and patted her on the head. I re-assured her that Dojima was a good man and she let go. Nanako hugged her and held her hand.

"Buh bye, sissy!" cheered Minko as the three walked off. I smiled and picked up Minko to walk the rest of the way to Yasogami High school.

I remembered from a conversation with Yosuke that he went here along with his ex-girlfriend, Saki Konishi. Part of me wondered what he was up to. Before my thoughts could go far, I heard some yelling from behind me.

"SOUJI! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

I whirled around to see the very person I was thinking of, pedaling way too fast in rainy weather and unable to stop. I jumped far enough away from Yosuke and watched him skid and crash into a metal pole, the handles shoved right into his crotch. He cried out in pain and leaned against the metal pole, trying to get rid of the pain.

"Ouch." was all I could say, but Minko seemed to be amused by poor Yosuke's pain and giggled loudly before I corrected her.

No one else seemed to bother looking at the poor guy struggling to even ask if he was okay. Without thinking, I went over to him and asked if he was okay. He looked up at me and tried to laugh the pain off, but I could tell he was trying to distract me from worrying about him.

I waited for a few moments before he spoke, sounding like he was in a lot less pain than he was a few moments ago.

"Hey Souji, nice to see you and Minko again! Didn't think I'd see the two of you again so soon!" he said as we were walking past the school gates. Minko begged me to let her hold his hand and I couldn't help but let her do so. Yosuke seemed too happy to hold her hand.

I smiled,

"Yeah, with all that happened yesterday, I missed you, Yosuke. Nice to see you again." I said as he held the door open for Minko and me, going inside and closing the door behind us. He smiled and laughed, "It's been a while since I've had a new friend to talk to. And considering what you've been through, I want to help you any way I can, Souji." he said seriously with a straight face. Souji blinked in confusion before she thanked him again. Minko giggled with delight as she looked at Yosuke with a smile only a child could have. She tugged on Yosuke's hand and asked innocently, "Do you wike mommy?" she asked as Yosuke stared at her. I could see his face blush red at her question.

The question may have sounded innocent, but it had a much deeper meaning that both Yosuke and me quickly understood. I stammered as I attempted to correct Minko, but my words were too jumbled up for her to understand and she just laughed at Yosuke and me. After we calmed down, the three of us headed to the teacher's office.

"Wait here, I'll go get the principal." he reached into his pocket and got out a small toy frog.

"Here, it's for Minko." he said as Minko took the toy. He headed inside the office, leaving me alone with my daughter. There wasn't any place for either of us to sit down, so we both had to keep standing.

After a few moments, Yosuke called for us to come inside. Next to Yosuke, I saw a very old man with a long white beard.

"So this is Dojima's older daughter, eh?" he said as he looked at me with a gentle smile. He looked at Minko next, "And this must be your daughter, Minko?" he asked as we both sat down next to Yosuke. I nodded,

"Yes, she's my daughter." I answered. He nodded, "She's two years old right?" he asked. I nodded again. He stayed quiet for a moment before he made an offer.

"Why not let her stay here until we can find a place that she can stay, Souji? I'll find something to keep her occupied." he said, patting Minko on the head, smiling as she giggled at him, still holding on to her new toy. Yosuke seemed to be smiling as well and laughed, "She's seems happy." he said as he stood up and went to hold the door open for me. He turned to Minko and said,

"Your Mommy and I will pick you up soon, ok? Have fun!" he said as I gave her one last look. As soon as we stepped outside, Yosuke put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see a reassuring look in his eyes. "Don't worry, he's worked here for years. He's good with kids." he said with a gentle smile. With him being so kind to me, I couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Thanks Yosuke. I've never been away from either of my daughters since the day both of them were born. It's…"

"A hard adjustment? I know what it feels like to have your whole world change in a instant." he said, putting his hands in his pockets as we began walking to our class, 2-2.

"When we moved here, it felt like I had lost almost everything…most of the shops began closing not too long after my family moved here. As you can probably figure out, a lot of people hate Junes. Saki was the first person to welcome me here and not long after that, we became a couple." it was his turn to sigh. I understood how he was feeling about his break-up.

"I know how you feel about breaking up with someone you gave your whole heart to…" He looked at me blank-faced and interrupted me,

"You're talking about Shiori and Minko's father, aren't you?" he asked with a sad look in his eyes. I was surprised by his question, but I kept going with what I wanted to say. After I took a deep breath, I began to go into a story that few of my friends knew.

"I met him at a dance that Shinjiro insisted on taking me there. He wanted me to get out more and make some friends. After that, he took off towards where the food was being made, leaving me alone. I stood there for a few moments before someone asked me to dance with them." I paused to take a breath. Yosuke took that time to ask me a question,

"What happened after that? Did he ask you out after the dance?" he asked as we stopped for a moment to rest our legs. I sighed,

"Yes, actually. He did ask me out on a date. Against my better judgment, I accepted his offer. After a week, we were a couple. Shinjiro was not pleased when he found out, needless to say. He tried to get me to reconsider, but I was too deep in love to even listen to him. I thought he was a nice person; the one in a million kind of guy. He seemed to know what I loved and used it to make me happy. Almost three months after we got together, our relationship…got really intense."

I blushed as I thought about those special nights with my ex.

Yosuke nodded in understanding as I was hesitating to speak of that fateful moment, "I see, the first time you had sex was…" he trailed off. I nodded and finished his sentence for him,

"…The time I got pregnant with Shiori. I…was really scared. I was only 15 years old, I was so scared, but he stuck by me throughout my pregnancy until I gave birth. When I first saw her…I fell in love at first sight. Shinjiro almost killed my ex when he found out he had knocked me up, but I managed to calm him down. He kept Shiori's existence a secret from Akihiko and Miki, but…Shinjiro got into a bad fight with someone…and a woman got caught in the crossfire. Her death was an accident, but he blamed himself and went into almost complete isolation for a while. He did keep in contact with me and Akihiko though…" I trailed off again.

"…About two years later after that bad accident, I got pregnant with Minko and that's when my…" I couldn't say anything else; I was shaking and about to cry,

"He…he left me…without even saying anything to me!" With that, I broke down crying. Yosuke quickly hugged me and said some comforting words to me and I calmed down and stopped crying.

He let out what sounded like a nervous laugh,

"Yeah, I felt the same way when Saki dumped me in front of everyone. I was and still am the laughing stock. Not many people are sympathetic to me except for my friend…" he said, rubbing the back of his head as he got out a tissue for me. I thanked him and wiped my face dry of tears. I hate crying in front of someone else; I feel weak when that happens. After I calmed down, I resumed talking.

"I was still pregnant with Minko when he left me. I had to take care of two-year old and myself with a kid on the way. Shinjiro did help me when he found out that I was pregnant again. He put me on a healthy food diet to make sure that Minko turned out okay and healthy. After about five months, he stopped contacting me and I got worried, so I went looking for him. Instead of finding him, I bumped into a crazy man and his lackey and he pulled out a gun. But thankfully, Shinjiro came to my rescue and chased them off. The rest of Shinjiro's friends were kinda shocked when they saw me."

"Did this Akihiko guy come help out too? He seems like a nice guy from the way you talk about him." asked Yosuke as he fuddled with the classroom door.

"Yes, he did and needless to say, he was rather shocked that I had a kid and was going to have a second one on the way. He wasn't angry about it. He offered, no, more like he demanded that Shiori and I come live at the dorm he and Shinjiro were staying at. Everything seemed peaceful for the time being but things got crazy again around December and January. On January 31st, Minko was born in the middle of one hectic night. I had to give birth all by myself in the dorm."

I paused, "…Can we talk about this later? I kinda want to go to class now." I asked him. He smiled and laughed,

"Sure, no problem Souji! I won't force you to talk about this any longer. Just tell me when you want to continue talking about this, ok?" he changed the subject and point out the classroom I was to go to. He talked about a friend of his named Chie Satonaka. From the way he described her, she sounded a lot like Akihiko, right down to their love of meat. I giggled and Yosuke smiled,

"That's the first time I've heard you laugh since I met you. You should laugh more; you'd be more happy." He said, opening the door and holding it for me. While it was a nice gesture, it was starting to annoy me a little. But I didn't say anything; I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '

"What took you so damn long!?" yelled a man with dental work that needed attention badly. He was glaring at Yosuke and me with a raised eyebrow,

"Hanamura!" he yelled and pointed a finger at him in anger, making my new friend flinch. "Don't tell me you were flirting with her!? Are you that desperate for a girl?!" he accused him.

That annoyed me a little needless to say. But he wasn't done yet; he pointed the finger at me next, "And you!" he yelled at me, further annoying me.

"Obviously, you haven't had any parental guidance! Spreading your legs at such a young age and getting knocked up-!" I snapped, "The fuck's your damn problem, asshole! Just because you're a teacher doesn't give you the right to try and shame me for what I've done in the past! I don't care who told you! You don't get to shame people!" the room went silent as I kept going,

"My life's none of your business!" I panted as he glared at me before he told me to sit down next to a girl in a green jacket. He went to his desk on began taking roll call. "How did HE get a job here?! I'm surprised he hasn't been fired yet." I thought bitterly as I glanced around the classroom. Rather small for a classroom.

Yosuke sat behind me and sighed. The girl tapped me on the shoulder,

"That was awesome! No one's stood up to King Moron like that before! What's your name?" she asked with a cheerful smile that made her look like Miki in a way. Smiling, I told her my name. She seemed trustworthy enough.

She nodded and told me her name in response with an eager voice,

"My name's Chie Satonaka! Nice to meet you, Souji! Yosuke told me about you!" she shook my hand and pointed to a girl with long black hair in red clothing. She turned around when Chie went to get her attention,

"This is my friend Yukiko! She's the daughter of the inn here! She's been my friend for a long time!" said Chie as I went to introduce myself to Yukiko. She seemed to be rather shy as she held her hand out.

"It's nice to meet you, Souji-chan. You've been the talk of the town since yesterday. I've heard no end of stories about you!" she said with a smile I envied.

"Great, now everyone's gonna want to talk to me now…" I thought in resignation, dreading the exact moment when someone would most likely ask me out on a date. I hadn't been willing to date since my nasty break-up years ago.

"She has? My, rumors spread fast around Inaba…" muttered Yosuke in pain. We all turned to see him facedown on the desk, whimpering in pain. I felt sorry for him, getting hit in the nads like that. I rubbed his shoulder and asked if he wanted some pain pills. He groaned and said yes.

"What happened to him? He looks dead…" asked Chie in confusion as she looked at me. I sighed,

"He got hit in the balls on his way here. That, and he nearly ran me over with his bike. And fell in the trashcan. I had to pull him out." I said as I stood up to stretch, almost instantly getting yelled at by the teacher. I shot him a glare and sat back down.

"Sheesh, King Moron just won't leave you alone, will he?" mused Chie as she smiled at me. I nodded and rolled my eyes. This teacher just had it out for me, didn't he? I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see the hand belonged to Yosuke. He flashed a smile at me,

"Don't worry, if he gives you hell, I'll complain to the principal about it for you." he said, finally sitting up though he still seemed to be in pain. I smiled back at him. "He really seems to be worried about me. I…kinda like it."

"Why are so nice to her, Yosuke?" asked Chie as she got up. "It's like you've got a crush on her or something." she said, making us both blush and look away from each other.

"But…weren't you with Saki-senpai, Yosuke-kun?" asked Yukiko who seemed eager to know more.

Class couldn't end soon enough for us both…

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '

"Ah, class is finally over! Freedom at-!" Chie was cut off when a strange noise came up. Just where on earth is the noise coming from?

"The speaker? What on earth?" asked Yukiko as she came next to me. "Did something happen? It's usually never used much…" she added as the message continued, saying something about an accident near the school. King Moron told us to stay in the room and he left. Behind me, I could hear some students trying to look out the window. Sadly, they couldn't see past the rather thick fog outside.

"Souji, I think we should go get Minko…" muttered Yosuke in a whisper. I couldn't agree more with him. So we all went to the office and picked up my daughter and introduced her to Chie and Yukiko. From the squeals they made, they seemed to love her already…

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '

"So…she's your daughter?" asked Chie in both shock and confusion as we left school. I nodded. She stared at her for a few moments before she nervously decided to change the topic of the conversation. "How about the three of us show you around Inaba? You know, since you're gonna live here after all with your two daughters…?

I couldn't help but let out a smile…

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '

Chie insisted on showing me around every single corner of Inaba and practically dragged me along, not to mention Yosuke, Yukiko, and my daughter who I decided to carry after she started to get sleepy.

"Nice place, isn't it, Souji?" she asked as we stopped at a rice patty to rest. I had to admit it; Inaba was rather peaceful and laid-back. Not much seemed to happen here. Minko snored a little in my arms.

After thinking about my answer, I told Chie,

"Yeah, it is…" I said as I continued looking around the area we were sitting at. It seemed kinda small, but it seemed like a peaceful place to eat. I finished the last of my snack and was savoring the taste when…

WHOOSH!-Water was suddenly flying at me! "The hell!?" I yelled as I looked around for the guilty party that was responsible for getting me wet. My eyes soon spotted a black and white car with lights on top. I stood up and was going to go talk to the driver when Yukiko stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see that she was wet as well, looking quite miserable at that. Chie and Yosuke were just as bad as both of us. I could hear Yosuke cursing under his breath about his headphones being ruined.

Not to mention Minko started to cry loudly after being rudely woken up. My motherly instincts got the better of me and I chose to get up, give Minko to Yosuke, and run right over and give that asshole a piece of my mind.

Yukiko ignored them and told me, "That's a police car. It wouldn't be wise to attack a police officer, Souji-chan." she said, ringing out some of the water in her hair and clothes. I did the same before I replied,

"Police officer or not, he still owes us all an apology. That, and he needs to give Yosuke-san a new set of headphones. I'm sure that pair is ruined now from that water." I said, walking over to the police car to give them one hell of a scolding.

When I had approached the car against Yukiko's advice, the door opened and out came a male officer, looking rather angry and irritated for some reason.

"What are you four kids doing here? Didn't you get the memo at school?" he said in a rather superior tone of voice as he closed the door. He seemed rather annoyed that he had to come out all this way. He stared at me as if he was waiting for answer from me. When I didn't say anything, he seemed to get angry with me.

"Are you dense, lady? Didn't you hear what I just said?" he snorted as I heard my new friends come up behind me. I growled, "Yes and I don't care. What you did was rude and now my daughter's all wet and miserable!" I yelled at him.

"…Fine, I'll tell you if you're that dense." he said as my friends walked up next to me. Yosuke quickly handed me Minko, who had been somehow calmed down.

"Tell us what exactly?" said Yosuke in an irritated manner as he put his ruined headphones on his neck. The officer immediately replied with,

"Someone's been murdered."


	4. Chapter 4

Souji’s story  
Chapter 4-Murder!?  
(Izanagi makes another appearance)  
Yosuke’s POV  
4/13/2011  
“Murdered!? What the hell!? How?! Why?! For what reason!? What the hell is going on?! Why is this happening!?” I yelled in shock, unable to say anything else. How could that even be possible? Such a word was almost never uttered in Inaba, let alone thought about! Inaba was the most peaceful place one could even think of and yet…someone has been murdered here of all places? Just what the hell is going on today?! I’m getting a bad feeling about this…

“Yup. We found the body not too far from here, hung on some telephone pole, too. I suggest you all head home as soon as possible. See ya, kids. Stay safe.” he said, turning around to get back in his car and then he drove off, the wheels splashing more water on us as what seemed like a final insult to our dignity and pride. Seems like he’s got a stick too far up his ass…makes me wonder about the rest of the cops here…at least Dojima-san’s a good cop, and so is Adachi-san. They don’t get us wet at the least…most of the time. Sometimes they did get us wet. Sometimes.

“You damn asshole of a cop, you could at least apologize for getting us wet, you jerk! Get back here!” yelled Chie not a second later, screaming and yelling in the direction of the car. I don’t blame her for yelling like that when she’s soaking wet. I’d yell too if I wanted to do so.  
Yukiko tried to comfort her by patting her friend on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, at least it will save on laundry today! Isn’t that good? Plus, you were complaining about getting hot earlier…” Chie couldn’t help but smile at that, completely forgetting about being wet for the time being. But that calm silence didn’t last too long…

“Damnit, I just got my clothes semi-dry too! Urgh that jerk! What the hell’s wrong with him? And he calls himself a police officer? The police chief needs to fire him…poor Minko, she’s probably gonna get a cold now…and I’ve run out of cold medicine. Damnit to hell, this is not how I wanted my first day at school to go. Just wonderful, wonderful.” Souji said, beginning to wring out the water from her shirt and turning to comfort her daughter a bit, doing the same to Minko’s shirt.   
After she was done, she turned to look at me with a classic look that screamed ‘I’m-having-a-really-bad-day, do-not-fuck-with-me, I-will-kill-you.’ I felt sorry for her; but I chose not to say anything to provoke her when she was in a bad mood. Best not to say anything.

“Hey Yosuke, are you okay? You’ve been staring at Souji for a bit…is everything okay? Shouldn’t you say something to her to make her feel better?” asked Yukiko as she looked at me with a curious look in her eyes. I blinked; had I been staring at her? I didn’t even register the fact that I was staring at her until I heard her dial a number on her cell phone. I could hear her talking rather frantically and it seemed like she was talking to Dojima-san from what little I could overhear and what little I could overhear was about her daughter and if she was okay or not. Her eyes were wide with fear.  
Minko seemed unaware of what her mother was freaking out about on the phone. She tilted her head in a way only a toddler would do.

“Hey, why’s Souji so frantic all of a sudden? She seemed fine just a few minutes ago? So what’s the deal with her? Is she okay?” asked Chie as she walked up to me, confused. I shrugged my shoulders and went over to ask Souji herself. I chose to go ask her.

“Hey Souji…um…” I began to say, but I was cut off by her relieved sigh. That’s when I went to ask her…

Souji’s POV

“Huh? Why was I acting all panicky?” I replied to Yosuke’s question in confusion as I put my cellphone away in my soaked pocket. He nodded as I was thinking of a response for him.   
“I was just talking to Dojima-san…I mean…” I said, not wanting to tell them the real reason why I was panicking-the fact that there was a murderer on the loose somewhere here in Inaba. I could hear Izanagi’s voice, telling me to tell Yosuke the truth and to stop beating around the bush. I mentally replied to him and told him to stop bothering me for a moment and to stop being so nosy. He replied by saying that I was being too anti-social for my own good.  
I didn’t hear him say anything else, so I left the matter be for now. I could see Yosuke’s questioning stare and I replied in a whisper,   
“Something happened at the school where Shiori went to…something about a small wild animal getting into the bathrooms…” I muttered as Chie and Yukiko walked up to us.   
“A wild animal got into the restrooms? Is she okay? What about the other children?” asked Yukiko in an oddly excited voice for someone so calm and poised to take over a family inn someday.  
“Yeah, they caught it and released out into the wild…no one was hurt.” I replied to her in relief. I can’t imagine how scared Shiori and the other kids were.  
I could see that this conversation wasn’t going to end so fast. After a brief moment, the four of us started to walk again towards where my new home was. I hoped we’d run into Dojima-san on the way to pick up Shiori. 

“Mama? You okay? Need Yuske? Need hug-hug?” asked Minko as she looked up at me in worry as she tugged on my sleeve. Her face was red after she had finished crying, looking rather worried to boot. I smiled at her and patted her soggy hair that would mostly likely need to be cleaned when we got back home after picking up her sister.  
“Don’t worry Minko, Mama’s just fine.” she picked up her daughter and kissed her on the forehead with a smile as she giggled at the nickname Minko had just given me, “…and his name is Yosuke, dear.” she walked over after she put her cell back in her semi-wet pocket, hoping to god it wouldn’t be ruined when she got home.

“Let’s get going, guys. We’ve been here too long and we’ll get sick if we stay out here with wet clothes. I’d rather not get a cold or have my daughter get one.” she said as she sighed and rubbed her forehead. She didn’t need to say anything else; Yukiko and Chie didn’t need any more convincing and neither did I.

 

Chie’s POV

“Aw man, I hate being wet! Yukiko, don’t you have any dry clothes at your inn? I bet they have some good stuff!” I said, my teeth chattering as I forced myself to smile after we had walked Yosuke to his house and said goodbye for the day. Surely my best friend would have SOMETHING dry to wear for the night while I put my wet and freezing clothes out to dry.

She shook her head, “Sorry, we haven’t been able to keep up with the laundry lately, so I’m afraid we don’t have any dry clothes to spare, Chie.” she said sadly, looking down. Not wanting to leave my friend feeling down, I cheered her up,  
“Aw, it’s okay, Yukiko! I’ll just borrow some clothes from Mom then!”

Saying that seemed to satisfy her, we didn’t say anything else as we each went our separate ways back to our own homes.

 

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

 

Souji’s POV

 

“Look at the bright side Souji, at least you made some more friends today during your first day at school. Minko and Shiori are fine, don’t worry about them. Everything will work out.” Izanagi chuckled. “By the way, your cell just went off. Might want to answer that.”

Despite him saying that, I can’t help but worry. Being a mother does that to you. You’re always looking out for trouble in every little nook and cranny.  
I checked my cell to see a message, talking about the Midnight Channel rumor that Chie spoke of earlier in the day, how if you stared into the screen of a turned off TV at midnight, you would see the picture of your soulmate appear.  
Pfft, yeah right. Like such a thing is even possible. I thought I’d met my soulmate 4 years ago, but he up and left me while I was pregnant with Minko. I haven’t dated anyone else since then. I’m not interested in any guy that’s taken interest in me since then. Though Miki has tried to help me with the girls, she does have her own life to live and her own family. Doesn’t stop her from trying to butt into mine though.

 

Though the ‘Midnight Channel’ rumor has piqued my curiosity a great deal. Yosuke told me to check it out just for fun, so I’d have something to do. Fun…seems like a distant memory sometimes to me these days, save for the moments I have playing with my daughters. Maybe I should listen to Izanagi’s advice and watch it. It couldn’t hurt to try…

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

4/14/2011  
Early Morning, Dojima Residence

 

Souji’s POV

 

“Are you alright, Souji? You’re looking pale again.” Izanagi gently shook my shoulder as I forced myself to open my eyes. I took a glance at the clock next to my futon and cursed when I saw how early it was-4:00 AM, a time that couldn’t be more annoying right now. Resisting the urge to throw something at it, I sat up to stretch and then got up to go use the bathroom before I went back to sleep. As I washed my face, my thoughts wandered to what had happened about five hours ago.

“That Midnight Channel…supposedly Chie claimed that if you had your TV turned off on a rainy night, when the clock struck 12:00 midnight, your soulmate would show up. But what I saw was nothing more than a blurry image of a girl.” I sighed as I rubbed my eyes, “Does this make me bisexual, I wonder?” 

“I wonder…” I crawled towards the small TV, “If an image of a girl could appear on the TV without it being turned on, what else could happen?”

Slowly reaching my hand towards the TV screen, I only expected to feel my fingertips touch the screen…

 

That didn’t happen; instead I felt my hand go right through the screen like it was water. That definitely woke me up completely and I tried to pull my hand back out. I gasped softly as I felt my hand, and then my arm, being pulled farther into the TV until I felt my head pass through. That’s when I began to panic,

“What the hell!? Wha-what the-?” After a few moments of struggling, I managed to yank myself out of the TV…only to have my head come into contact with the low table, complete with a loud thud. The sudden pain made my head feel like a watermelon. I began to hear Izanagi asking if I was okay.

I looked around to see that my daughters were still asleep; those two can sleep through anything…

After my headache died down to tolerable levels, I stared at the TV in shock at what had happened. Shaking my head in disbelief, I could not believe what had just happened.

I stared at my hand and arm, still attached to my body.


End file.
